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Body camera footage released in the shooting death of Jason Walker by off-duty deputy
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The body camera footage taken after an off-duty officer North Carolina shot Jason Walker was released on Friday. It seems to corroborate the officer's story that Walker attacked his vehicle.
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In Fayetteville, N.C., new body camera footage was released today. It was taken after an off-duty sheriff's deputy shot and killed Jason Walker, a Black man, last Saturday. Jason deBruyn of WNYC reports.
JASON DEBRUYN, BYLINE: In the footage, a man identifies Jason Walker as his son and tells a police officer that Walker ran in the road, jumped on the hood of a truck, tore off a windshield wiper and used it to hit the windshield.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: And I was trying to get him to come back over here. And I called him and said, come back, Jason. And he came out into the street.
DEBRUYN: He's holding a cellphone and motioning toward where Walker crossed the street.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: He was out here in the daggone (ph) street when that fella drove up.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Two-four-eight (unintelligible).
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Jumped up on the guy's hood, and the guy jumped out and said he was going to shoot (ph).
DEBRUYN: Walker was shot last Saturday by Jeffrey Hash, a Cumberland County sheriff's deputy who was off duty at the time. The eyewitness account largely matches what Hash told 911 operators at the time.
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(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
JEFFREY HASH: I was driving down the road, and he came flying across Bingham Drive, running. And then I stopped so I wouldn't hit him. And he jumped on my car and started screaming.
DEBRUYN: Hash's wife and daughter were also in the pickup truck. Civil rights attorney Ben Crump is representing Walker's family. At a vigil on Thursday night, he spoke at a Fayetteville church, saying it should have been a trained officer's duty to deescalate the situation.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
BEN CRUMP: He was supposed to be trained to protect and serve life, not to take life.
DEBRUYN: Fayetteville Police Chief Gina Hawkins petitioned the court to release the body camera footage. In North Carolina, police camera footage is released only after a judge's order. Protesters will take to the streets again tonight.
Kathy Greggs is the co-founder and president of the advocacy group Fayetteville PACT, or the Police Accountability Community Taskforce. She's been pushing for citizen review boards who can review these incidents and make recommendations.
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KATHY GREGGS: And they can make a determination independent and away from the internal affairs of if violations happened with the police and decide reprimands.
DEBRUYN: Jason Walker leaves behind a 14-year-old son.
For NPR News, I'm Jason deBruyn. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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